Report: ‘No Significant Changes’ Found in Those Who Played Violent Video Games Every Day for Two Months

Rockstar Games/Take-Two Interactive16 Mar 2018

“No significant changes” were found in adults who spent two months playing popular violent video game Grand Theft Auto V daily, according to a report.

The study, which was conducted by the Max Planck Institute for Human Development and University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, revealed there were “no significant changes” on “a wide variety of behavioral measures after two straight months of daily violent game play.”

“Effects observed only for a few minutes after short sessions of video gaming are not representative of what society at large is actually interested in, namely how habitual violent video game play affects behavior on a more long-term basis,” declared researcher Simone Kuhn, who instead measured subjects who played Grand Theft Auto daily over eight weeks.

Ars Technica reported that “researchers had 90 adult participants play either Grand Theft Auto V or The Sims 3 for at least 30 minutes every day over eight weeks (a control group played no games during the testing period). The adults chosen, who ranged from 18 to 45 years old, reported little to no video game play in the previous six months and were screened for pre-existing psychological problems before the tests.”

Subjects were also examined two months after the test “in order to measure potential continuing effects,” and the researchers discovered that, “Only three subjects showed a statistically significant effect of the violent gameplay at a 95 percent confidence level.”

“Pure chance would predict more than 10 of the 208 comparisons would be significant at that level, leading the researchers to conclude ‘that there were no detrimental effects of violent video game play,'” Ars Technica concluded.

Despite the fact that many other studies have also concluded there are no correlations between violence in video games and violence in “real life,” President Trump has repeatedlyclaimed video games could be to blame for school shootings.

This month, the Guardian also claimed video games are creating racism and promoting right-wing ideologies.

In the article, the Guardian cited the “expulsion of aliens” in sci-fi games, “border control” in Plants vs Zombies, and even “restoration of natural harmony” in FarmVille as secret messages which encourage players to become right-wing and “racist.”